Air India crash: Airline says one engine on plane was new as damaged black box to be sent to US for analysis
Indian aviation regulator finds no major safety flaws in Air India Dreamliners but flags maintenance and coordination issues
The Air India plane that crashed last week had one new engine installed in March this year, while the other was last serviced in 2023 and wasn’t due for maintenance until December, according to the airline’s chairperson N Chandrasekaran.
India will send the black box from the crashed Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner to the US for analysis after it sustained “heavy damage”, The Economic Times has reported, citing an internal source.
More than 200 victims of the 12 June crash have been identified through DNA testing, Indian authorities said yesterday.
Investigators probing the crash have found that the aircraft’s emergency power system was likely active just before impact.
The Wall Street Journal reported that this possibly suggested an engine or hydraulic failure during takeoff, a rare event in commercial aviation.
Air India is cutting its international wide body operations by 15 per cent for a few weeks due to safety inspections.
Families in India with concerns can call Air India on 1800 5691 444. Those outside India can call the British Foreign Office on 020 7008 5000.
British survivor of Air India crash seen carrying brother’s casket at funeral
Why did the Air India flight crash? Here’s how experts will investigate the disaster in Ahmedabad
It is a miracle, says lone survivor of Air India plane crash.png?quality=75&width=230&auto=webp)
Should we worry about flying? Simon Calder answers your air travel safety questions after Air India plane crash
British families of Air India crash victims feel ‘utterly abandoned’ by UK government
Families of British victims of the Air India plane crash are experiencing "pain and frustration" due to delays in identifying and repatriating their loved ones, according to a government minister.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off on Thursday, marking one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of British casualties.
The aircraft crashed into a medical college hostel in a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.
Among the deceased, 52 were British nationals. The sole survivor was Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.
Relatives of Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa, who died in the crash, said they felt “utterly abandoned” by the UK Government and called for more support on the ground in India.
Read more here:
British families of Air India crash victims feel ‘utterly abandoned’ by UK government
Boy who recorded viral Ahmedabad crash video ‘still not feeling like himself’
Aryan Asari, a 17-year-old airplane enthusiast, was filming from his father’s terrace in Ahmedabad when he witnessed and recorded the horrific Air India Dreamliner crash that killed 241 onboard and nearly 30 on the ground.
A lifelong fan of planes, Aryan was excited to see aircraft up close during his first visit to the city. But the trauma of watching the plane spiral and explode has left him deeply shaken.
“I saw the plane. It was going down and down. Then it wobbled and crashed right before my eyes,” he told the BBC.
His video became crucial to investigators and went viral.“My son is so scared that he has stopped using his phone,” his father, Maganbhai Asari, told the outlet.
Aryan is now trying to recover from the emotional impact, but his father fears he may never look at planes the same way again.
“This was Aryan’s first time in Ahmedabad. Actually, it was the first time in his life that he left the village,” Mr Asari said.
Retired army soldier Mr Asari now lives alone in a modest rooftop room near Ahmedabad airport, while his wife and two children remain in their ancestral village on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
“Whenever I’d call, Aryan would ask if I could spot aeroplanes from our terrace and I would tell him you could see hundreds of them streaking the sky.”
The family had been swamped with interview requests after the viral video, and Aryan had a traumatic experience dealing with all that.
“My son was so disturbed by then that we decided to send him back to the village.”
Aryan has now resumed school but is “still not feeling like himself. His mother tells me that every time his phone rings, he gets scared”, Mr Asari said.
“I know he will be fine with time. But I don’t think my son will try looking for airplanes in the sky again.”
New Air India footage shows plane taking off and crashing moments later
He flew home to bury his father. The Air India crash took his life
As families wait for DNA tests to confirm the identities of their loved ones who perished in the Air India crash, harrowing stories emerge from the decade’s worst aviation disaster. Namita Singh reports from Ahmedabad:
He flew home to bury his father. The Air India crash took his life
Boeing 787 Dreamliner: a passenger and airline favourite, with some nightmares along the way
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was the first truly 21st-century big jet. More than 1,000 are in service, and many passengers rate it more highly than other aircraft.
The carbon-fibre twin-engined 787 was designed partly as a replacement for Boeing’s veteran 767 – but also to introduce passenger-friendly benefits such as larger windows and higher cabin pressure.
The Dreamliner was also accountant-friendly, burning about one-fifth less fuel than the 767, and allowed airlines’ network planners to dream of ultra-long routes. The daily Qantas nonstop between London Heathrow and Perth in Western Australia, covering over 9,000 miles, is a doddle for a suitably configured 787.
Read more by Simon Calder here:
Boeing 787 Dreamliner: a passenger favourite, with some nightmares along the way
India orders nationwide airport emergency drills after devastating Air India crash
In a 13 June memo titled “Updating Airport Emergency Plan” and reviewed by Reuters, India’s aviation authorities instructed all government-managed airports to conduct a full-scale emergency training exercise on 30 June.
These drills, which simulate crisis scenarios such as crashes or large-scale evacuations, are a standard component of airport preparedness and safety protocols.
The directive came in the wake of the deadly Air India crash on 12 June in Ahmedabad, which claimed 241 lives onboard and killed several more on the ground.
Locals say Air India pilot ‘sacrificed his life to save others’
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a pilot for Air India, is being hailed as a hero for diverting his falling plane away from a densely populated area near Ahmedabad airport, potentially saving hundreds of lives.
Air India flight AI171, bound for London Gatwick, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all but one of the 242 passengers and crew, as well as at least 29 people on the ground, including medical students.
Locals believe Mr Sabharwal deliberately steered the Boeing 787 Dreamliner away from their apartment building.
Read more here:
Why did the Air India flight crash? Here’s how experts will investigate the disaster in Ahmedabad
Investigators in India are working to identify the cause of the Air India plane crash that killed all but one of the 242 passengers on board on Thursday 12 June. Dozens of people on the ground also died. It was the first fatal crash involving the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The flight, which had been bound for London Gatwick, came down shortly after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad. According to Flightradar24, the aircraft departed at 08:08:44 GMT (1.38pm local time) from runway 23 and climbed only a few hundred feet before crashing less than a minute later.
With speculation rife about the cause of the disaster, Indian safety experts have been joined by teams from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to work out what happened as the disaster on flight AI171 unfolded.
Read more by Simon Calder here:
Why did Air India flight crash? How experts will investigate the Ahmedabad disaster
Boeing 787’s emergency-power system likely active before Air India crash - report
Investigators looking into the deadly crash of Air India Flight 171, which claimed over 270 lives, have found that the aircraft’s emergency power system was likely activated shortly before impact.
According to The Wall Street Journal, this could point to a possible engine or hydraulic failure during takeoff, an extremely rare but serious issue in commercial aviation.
However, investigators have not yet confirmed what triggered the emergency system, the report said, citing sources familiar with the inquiry.
British man's family in distress over lack of support from UK and India governments
The family of 25-year-old Faizan Rafik, a British man feared to be on the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, is still awaiting official confirmation of his fate.
Despite providing DNA days ago, they’ve received no updates, leaving them in distress and without guidance, the BBC reported.
Rafik was returning to the UK after visiting his wife in Gujarat. His cousin has called for more support from UK authorities and expressed frustration at the lack of communication from both Indian and British officials.
Sameer Rafik, his cousin told the outlet that his family had been left “completely stuck” and that they “don’t know what to do”.
The crash killed 241 of 242 on board, including 53 Britons.
Mr Rafik said: “There’s no update on him, we don’t know if he’s dead or alive.”
“We are still hoping to hear some good news from India but unfortunately we aren’t getting any update from anywhere.“Faizan’s dad was asked to give DNA - it’s been more than four days now. We were supposed to have heard from the hospital by Monday but we haven't heard anything.
“We need to get some update about my brother. Was he there in the flight crash? If he wasn’t on the flight where is he? If he is on the flight then what’s the condition of the body?”
He added: “We haven’t had anything from the UK or India – it feels like he was the one paying tax to this country and the government doesn't bother about the person who has died.
People hold candles as they take part in a special prayer ceremony for the victims of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane, which crashed during take-off from an airport, in Ahmedabad, India, 17 June 2025
“It feels very awful. He’s nothing to the government – just a piece of paper, feels like tearing it up and throwing it in the bin.
“We don’t know what to do because we’re completely blank. We need some kind of support from someone, we need a guide about what to do but we don’t have that at the moment.”
Indian canteen worker's hopes dashed, no second miracle in air crash
Ravi Thakor had been hoping his mother and two-year old daughter had escaped just before an Air India jet crashed into the building they were in.
A week after one of the world's worst aviation disasters killed more than 270 people in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, Thakor's hopes were dashed when doctors matched his DNA on Wednesday with the remains of his mother Sarla and daughter Aadhya.
A canteen worker in a college hostel, Thakor and other family members had left the hostel around 30 minutes before Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft crashed into the building. Sarla had stayed back, cooking and looking after Aadhya, who was asleep.
Thakor and his wife Lalita searched for them in hospitals and the morgue after the crash. After not finding them for days, they said they were hoping for a “second miracle”, referring to the lone passenger aboard the plane who survived the disaster.
On Thursday, the dead bodies were handed over to Thakor's family for the final rites.
“We are going to cremate my mother and daughter. It is very difficult for me to say anything right now, but at least we know what happened to them,” Thakor said, struggling to speak.
At least 211 DNA samples had been matched, and 189 dead bodies handed over to families, Rakesh Joshi, the medical superintendent at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital told reporters on Thursday.
The dead included 241 people on board the plane and at least 30 on the ground.
-Reuters
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